This series contains original correspondence relating to the West Indies. Until 1825 the papers are mainly military despatches. Includes from 1843 to 1875 a section on indentured labour ('coolie') immigration; correspondence with the commissioners to enquire into the administration of civil and criminal justice in the West Indies (from 1822) and the commissioners to consider the state of slaves confiscated by the Crown (from 1825), and about the Imperial Department of Agriculture (from 1898).
The rest of the series includes files on economic and political affairs in the West Indies in general, on colonial development and welfare, and on plans for closer association between the separate countries of the British West Indies. The series also contains papers of and relating to the Royal Commission on the West Indies (1938/39) and the international Caribbean Commission (1943-).